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Published: 12:00am, 21 Nov 2000

Lufthansa will hold an Internet auction on Thursday, with 15 pairs of return tickets on offer from Hong Kong. Destinations include London, Paris and Rome, as well as cities in Germany, and bidding for economy class tickets with a face value of around $9,000 will start at $500, with increments of $20. Bidding will be open from 10am to 5pm via Lufthansa's Internet site: www.lufthansa_greaterchina.com. Departure dates run from early next month to the middle of February. Bidders must register with the Web site before joining the auction.

Triple Asia Miles are being offered by British Airways until the end of December to passengers flying Club World (business class) between Hong Kong and London. A return ticket in Club World will now earn 44,940 Asia Miles.

The annual festival of Taipa and Coloane islands in Macau will be held this weekend and the following weekend, featuring Portuguese cuisine, handicraft stalls, live music and dance. This weekend there will also be a kite carnival and Cantonese opera. For details, tel: (853) 827 882.

Tourists to Berlin will be disappointed to find that the Brandenburg Gate is covered in scaffolding. It is being given a facelift that will take 16 months to complete. The gate's 18th-century foundations are unstable and will be shored up, and laser technology will be used to clean up the stone-work. The restoration work will cost the equivalent of HK$34 million. It may be of little compensation, but the structure will be draped with a full-size image of itself during the renovations.

Thomas Cook is offering a number of Christmas packages in the region, including four nights in Phuket from $6,290, four nights in Bangkok from $3,990, four nights in Cebu from $4,890, and three nights in Singapore from $3,990. All packages include daily breakfast. Call 2853 9933, fax 2545 7477 or check the Web site: www.thomascook.com.hk

After receiving numerous threats, including a bomb threat, Cuba Cruise Corp, which is based in Toronto, cancelled an inaugural cruise which should have left Nassau for Havana last weekend.